Stephen M. Sweeney, the president of the State Senate here, glowered with disgust as he described how
one New Jersey town paid out nearly $1 million to four retiring police officers for their unused sick days and vacation time.
Mr. Sweeney, a Democrat, also scowled about the estimated $46 billion New Jersey owes in pension contributions
and its $58 billion in liabilities to finance retiree health coverage for government employees.
For years, Republican lawmakers have railed against public employees’ pay and benefits,
but now another breed of elected official is demanding labor concessions, too:
current and former labor leaders and allies themselves.
After 12 years erecting steel beams for office buildings, Mr. Sweeney became a top official in New Jersey’s ironworkers union,
now holding that post along with his legislative one.
He says the state can no longer afford the benefits won over the years by public sector unions.
“At some point, you reach the limit of your ability to pay,” he said.
In Oregon, Gov. Theodore R. Kulongoski, a former lawyer representing the state employees’ union, is insisting upon wage concessions from those very workers.
In Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a former teachers’ union organizer, is battling once-friendly unions, demanding $100 million in concessions.
In New York, Gov. David A. Paterson, a longtime union ally whose father is a top adviser to several unions, is threatening large-scale layoffs
unless public sector unions agree to a pay freeze and re-open contracts.
The transition from labor ally to labor critic can be bruising.
Viewing Mr. Sweeney as a traitor, several public sector unions in New Jersey are threatening to get another Democrat to challenge him
and have hired airplanes to fly over the Jersey Shore with banners denouncing him.
They have even dragged out giant inflatable rats to embarrass him at speaking engagements.
“I’m getting branded as an antilabor person by the public employee unions, which amazes me because I’ve spent my lifetime doing right by working men and women,” said Mr. Sweeney,
who has sponsored legislation that raised the state minimum wage and required companies to provide paid sick days.
“I’m a labor leader, but I’m also elected to do right by all the people in the state of New Jersey, and not just union members.”
Another New Jersey Democrat, Donald Norcross, who is both a state senator and president of the Southern New Jersey Central Labor Council,
has been told by several public sector unions that they will not contribute a cent toward his Senate re-election campaign because he has backed so many of Mr. Sweeney’s proposals.
And in Los Angeles, Mr. Villaraigosa has faced hostile union-paid advertisements and librarians demonstrating outside his home on Father’s Day.
For decades, many state and city politicians, especially Democratic ones, helped assure their re-election by cozying up to public-sector unions and benefiting from their campaign dollars and precinct walkers.
Prior to their current jobs, Mr. Paterson did just that as Democratic leader of the New York State Senate and Mr. Villaraigosa did the same as a member of the California State Assembly.
Like many labor-friendly politicians, they happily voted for pension sweeteners and other benefits for unions.
But now, with cities and states struggling to close budget gaps, there is a glaring need to scale back costs of all kinds,
and public employees are a favorite target. ...
To read more at http://www.economywatch.com’, go to: http://www.economywatch.com/
